I'm Back & Chicken Cacciatore!

       Well, hello there! I am not sure how long it has been since I’ve last posted but I’m pretty giddy to me back! 3 kids and 1 gazillion chicken nugget dinners later, what brings me back you ask? 

To be honest, we have been cleaning out everything lately and I just came across about 30 cookbooks hiding in a cabinet. Piling them up, sorting them and perusing the pages, I started to really miss cooking and trying new foods. Since it was fittingly January 1, I decided to make it a resolution to cook 1 new recipe a week from my dusty old cookbooks. 

And so viola! This week I made chicken cacciatore for the fam. I loved it, my son devoured the pasta with sauce, my one daughter happily dunked her chicken in the sauce and the other, well she had buttered pasta and buttered toast. And for Matt, he took a pass after hitting the gym and getting home late……enter eye roll. So all in all, it was a semi- win for the night but seriously even better was what it did for me-  kickstarted me back to my beloved blogging life. Here’s to me! And you- enjoy! 

Chicken Cacciatore

serves: 4

slightly adapted from: Real Simple Meals Made Easy Cookbook

Ingredients:

1/4 C AP (all purpose) Flour

1 1/4 salt

3/4 tsp black pepper

1 3.5 lbs chicken, cute into pieces OR

     2 bone-in skin-on chicken breast, 2 drumsticks and 2 bone-in skin-on thighs

1/4 C olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 carrot, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

4 garlic cloved, minced

3 springs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1 28oz can plum tomatoes 

1/3 dry red wine

1/4 C fresh flat leaf parsley

1 lb pasta, your choice or  3 C white rice

1. In a shallow bowl, combine flour and 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper
2. Rinse chicken and pat dry
3. Working in 2 batches, lightly coat chicken in flour mixture and shake off excess
4. Heat oil in large Dutch Oven or large sauce pan over medium heat
5. Add 1/2 your chicken to pan and brown each side, about 5 minutes per side. Place on plate to the side. Repeat with other half of chicken
6. Add onion to pan and cook for about 3-5 minutes
7. Add carrot, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Cook for 10 minutes, staring occasionally
8. Add tomatoes to pan and use fingers to crush or rip apart tomatoes. Add wine and remaining salt and pepper and bring to simmer
9. Add chicken back to pan, reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook for 45-55 minutes, turning chicken occasionally
10. Remove bay leaf and turn off heat. 
11. After about 10 minutes, use slotted spoon to remove excess oil from top of sauce
12. Serve over rice or pasta, top with parsley